Get informed as ACA rollout gets under way

Fortunately for North Carolinians, the federal government and private organizations are filling the void left when the state abdicated its role in the Affordable Care Act.

Washington will operate the insurance exchange that Raleigh should have controlled. Blue Cross Blue Shield, the only insurer participating in all 100 counties, is mounting an aggressive information campaign. So is the American Association of Retired Persons, with special emphasis on people between the ages of 50 and 64.

The efforts by the Blues and AARP are being ramped up now because signup for the exchange begins Oct. 1. It will go into operation Jan. 1. The Blues have rented movie theaters to show first-run films, with a 15-minute ad explaining the ACA and staffers with laptops in the lobby offering individual guidance.

"There's a big segment of the population that really wants to talk to someone face to face about it," marketing director Bruce Allen said. "It's a new market that's entering that doesn't have health insurance, never had it, and really needs kind of that step-by-step walk-through to understand a really critical decision for them to make."

There is a video on the Blues website, bcbsnc.com, that explains changes under the ACA and individual options. There also is a Blue Map feature providing individualized answers.

For its part, AARP has developed a website so well designed that the federal Department of Health and Human Services is steering people to it, according to John Hishta, AARP senior vice president.

AARP also is hosting statewide groups to explain the law, holding tele-town halls and sending out a lot of mailings, according to Doug Dickerson, state director for North Carolina.

Such efforts are vital because "It's hard to get beyond the rhetoric" put out by opponents of ACA, Hishta told the Citizen-Times Editorial Board. He said that is in part the fault of ACA supporters for not getting out more to talk about it.

"Starting Oct. 1," AARP explains, "you can go to the Health Insurance Marketplace website and view the plans that are available ? You can review each plan, see costs and what's covered - so you can make an informed decision.

"All plans are listed in one place. So you can make side-by-side comparisons of the benefits and prices ? After you've reviewed your options, you will be able to choose the health plan that works for you, and sign up on the spot."

Many if not most AARP members get their health care through Medicare, but that doesn't mean the ACA is not important to them. "Unless you deal with the health care system as a whole ? you're never going to come to grips with the problem overall," Hishta said.

Without universal, or at least near-universal, coverage we'll never be able to stop cost-shifting and get meaningful controls on health-care costs. As long as there is so much cost-shifting, it's hard to tell what anything should cost.

For instance, North Carolina's refusal to expand Medicaid coverage under the ACA shifts enormous costs onto the state's health-care providers, especially hospitals that have to provide expensive emergency-room treatment for conditions that should have been headed off previously.

Dickerson said he heard local concerns on this issue from Chamber of Commerce members. Mission Health estimates it will lose $350 million over the next 10 years, due in part to the state's refusal to expand Medicaid.

Despite the worst attempts of ACA opponents to sow confusion, individuals can get the straight scoop by logging on to Blue Map or AARP's healthlawanswers.org. There's no reason not to have the mandated coverage with this information readily at hand.

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Get informed as ACA rollout gets under way

Fortunately for North Carolinians, the federal government and private organizations are filling the void left when the state abdicated its role in the Affordable Care Act.